Time for a dungeon

I keep doing one quest per day for the next week and make an average of 2 silver per day. By now I am at 30 silver coins. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much money in one place before. But someday soon, I will have to spend it for better weapons and armor.

I also spend a lot of time in the guild arena. I don’t see Merlara these days, though. I guess she’s out on a long quest. Man, I’d really love to challenge her again.

About a week after Darx and Kiara left for the dwarven capital, I get called into Aelbrecht’s office. I wonder what he would want of me. Maybe I’ll get a praise for fulfilling so many quests.

When I enter Aelbrecht’s office, I quickly notice all the bookshelves on the walls. All of them filled with books. Each of them seems to have a name and they are in alphabetical order. Are those the names of the guild members? At the other end of the rectangular office, is a desk with Aelbrecht sitting behind it. Behind him is another large shelf, except this one seems to have books that appear to do with finances, infrastructure and such.

“Thank you for coming, Leona.” Aelbrecht tells me. “I hear you have been quite active.”

“I have to be, Sir. If I am to afford my own armor, I need to make money as quickly as possible.” I answer.

“Indeed. It is for this reason that I would like to make you an offer.”

Aelbrecht then places a map on his desk and compels me to look at it.

“There is a mine here. At the mountain range, northwest of Riledo. The owner regularly has issues with elemental creatures, so he has regularly contracted the Dark Dragons to solve that problem for him. I recently received a message that he has that issue once again. I feel it would be right for you to go there and solve the issue.”

A dungeon? So soon? But I don’t have my own armor yet.

“Sir. Don’t you think it would be better for me to buy my own armor first?” I ask.

“The quest giver is paying 60 silver. Even if you form a party to complete this quest, it still finances your armor quite a bit. Not to mention whatever valuables you might find in the mine itself. And if you can find the source of the elemental attacks, you get a bonus 2 golden coins on top of that.”

Aelbrecht’s calm description of all the rewards makes my mouth fall open. I could get … so much out of this. Yes, it is worth it.

“Very well, Sir. I accept this quest.”

“Since it is your first multi day quest, I will have a veteran member escort you. Gather your party and meet me tomorrow morning in the courtyard. The mine is a week away from here. So, make certain you and your friends are prepared.”

I would have liked Darx and Aki to join, but they are already halfway to the dwarven capital. I succeed in convincing Ryul and Shalia to join me instead. I remember how good we worked in that dungeon we went on with Kiara and it would be great to get together again. Both of them agree and the next morning we gather in the guild courtyard. By sheer coincidence, I notice Merlara there, getting a cart ready for herself. Well, if that isn’t a coincidence.

I walk up to Merlara and say, “Hey there. It’s been a while since I last saw you. Did you do a long quest or something?”

“I went on a vacation to the moon.” Merlara replies sarcastically from behind her helmet. “Of course I went on a quest.”

Aww, Merlara thinks she’s being cute by being all sarcastic. Well, I can be cute too.

“Really? Well, we are going on vacation too. To a dungeon. Right, guys?” I say while looking back at Ryul and Shalia.

Merlara simply replies with, “Good for you.”

Fortunately for her, that is when Aelbrecht comes out of the guildhall. He walks straight towards us. I wonder who he picked as our chaperone.

“Good morning, Leona.” The guild master greets me. “Is this your full party?”

“Yes, sir.” I answer. “Ryul, Shalia and myself.”

“Very well.” He replies. “Merlara will be accompanying you to the mine. She has already been briefed. Make sure to heed her advice.”

After that, Aelbrecht leaves again. Which is when Merlara looks at me and says, “I thought you were going to a dungeon.”

I can’t believe Aelbrecht would have Merlara of all people be my ‘chaperone’. Ugh. Regardless, I now have to listen to helmetface. She first has us collect some camping gear. The guild has extra in stock, but we can always buy our own in the future. She also has us collect provisions. Some loafs of bread, some bottles of water, boar meat and carnivorous plant fruit. After loading our stuff in the cart, we set off.

Merlara first shows us a map and a compass she has and teaches Ryul and Shalia how to find their way. I of course already knew all of that. She also has each of us take turns driving the cart. Cycling drivers makes it easy enough for none of us to get too exhausted from it. We do at times need to take a break for the horse to rest.

Eventually, Merlara declares it is late enough for us to set up camp, which we do. She and Ryul set up the tents while Shalia and I collect firewood. When we get back, both tents are up and apparently Ryul has already suggested to Merlara that he and Shalia share a tent. Ugh, now I have to share a tent with Merlara too? Son of a bitch.

I leave most of my armor in the tent assigned to me and volunteer to cook the food. I did hunt the boar meat, after all. Might as well cook my own meat. I don’t trust Merlara to be a good cook anyways.

When the food is ready, I let the others know. Merlara is the last one to show up. Yet as she approaches, I see her reaching for her helmet. Right, she can’t eat with that black steel bucket on her head. I finally get to see what scars she is all hiding. She takes the helmet off and I see …

… no scars whatsoever. Wait, she’s actually quite beautiful. I stare at Merlara as she takes her food and finds a place to sit. It is only when she stares back at me that I ask, “So why are you wearing a helmet all day again?”

Merlara looks at me all smug and replies, “I’d hate to get a tan.” Then starts eating.

Well, fine then. Be a bitch about it. I look at her one more time and notice that her irises are a golden color. Yeah, that’s pretty unusual. Like how Darx’s red irises are unusual. Gona have to ask her about that some day.

When it’s time to sleep, Merlara suggests we take 3 hour shifts in teams of 2. Ryul and Shalia volunteer to take the first shift. I begrudgingly get into a tent with Merlara and make sure to sleep with my back to her. I have a hard time falling asleep and regularly toss and turn. Eventually I give up and decide to go for a walk. Maybe that will help. But as I push my head out of the tent and I look over at the campfire, I see Shalia on the other side. She is on her knees and Ryul is standing in front of … OH MY GOD! I quickly pull my head back inside the tent. The two of them are … Well, they asked Kiara to share the same room in the guild, so I guess they … And they have gone this far with each other already?

I push my head out the tent again, to see if I really did see what I just saw. Yip, Shalia on her knees, pushing her head back and forth, I totally saw that correct. They got a lot of nerve doing that while they are supposed to be guarding the camp. Right, guess that means I can’t go for a walk. I look over at Merlara to see how she is sleeping. Out like a log, of course. By the goddess, even when she sleeps she pisses me off. And the more I look at her sleeping, the less I get it. Why would anyone with a pretty face like that want to hide it. There’s probably a trauma behind it or something. Too bad there’s a total bitch behind that face.

Suddenly I need to yawn. I take it as a sign for me to lie down and try to catch some rest again.

When our three ours are up and Shalia comes to wake us up, I can already tell I haven’t had enough sleep. But I’m sure Shalia is even more exhausted than I am. Merlara and I put our armors on and then we guard the camp while Ryul and Shalia sleep. It are a boring 3 hours, but it is necessary. I can hear some animals crawling around in the darkness of the forest. Imagine how close they would come if nobody was awake, or if our campfire had gone out. Even if they ignore us, they could steal our provisions and then we’d go hungry.

After another 3 hours we switch with Shalia and Ryul again. This time I fall asleep immediately. When Shalia wakes me up I feel quite a bit more rested. Except, when Ryul and Shalia want to get their next 3 hours of sleep, Merlara tells us to break camp.

“But we’ve only slept 3 hours.” Ryul complains.

“6 hours for me and Leona plus another 6 for you and Shalia, that’s 12 hours we’re losing. With only 24 hours in a day, that is half a day resting. If we do it like that, we will take extra long to get to our destination. Instead, we’re going to place your cots in the cart. You can get your rest while we are driving. But you will be wearing as much of your armor as you can and keep your weapons close by. If we get attacked you need to be able to act at a moment’s notice.”

I hate to agree with Merlara, but including setting up camp and last night’s dinner, we’ve already spent more than 9 hours here. Maybe I should have formed a larger party. That way we could do shorter shifts and grant everybody more time to sleep. After some grumbling, Ryul and Shalia agree and place their cots in the cart. They are exhausted enough however that they fall asleep rather quickly. I try to stay awake but as Merlara is driving the cart, the lack of sleep I had in my first rest catches up to me and I too start sleeping … while sitting up.